House Passes Bill to Reform the "Obamacare" Definition of Full-time Employment

Today, marking one of the first legislative actions of the new Congress, the House passed H.R. 30, the Saving American Workers Act of 2015, by a bipartisan vote of 252-172.  Twelve Democrats crossed party lines and supported the bill. The bill would repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) definition of full-time employee as 30 hours of service per week and replace it with the more traditional 40-hour definition. The ACA's employer mandate to provide coverage to all full-time employees became effective beginning with plan years on or after Jan. 1, 2015. Previous delays of the ACA employer mandate did nothing to change the law's underlining full-time definition of 30 hours-of-service per week. Similar legislation passed the House last year but never received consideration in the Senate. The strong vote today will likely result in Senate consideration of this legislation in the near future; however, a veto threat from the White House means the bills future remains uncertain. AGC sent a letter in support of the bill ahead of the House vote and joined the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare and the Employers for Flexibility in Health Care Coalition in letters of support. For more information, please contact Jim Young at (202) 547-0133 or youngj@agc.org.